Tech earnings power Nasdaq to record high; S&P, Dow flat
| Reuters

The Nasdaq hit a record intraday high on Thursday, powered by a string of strong earnings from technology companies, while the S&P 500 and the Dow were little changed. Investors shifted their focus back to earnings, a day after the Trump administration unveiled a tax reform plan that proposed deep tax cuts for businesses, but offered little detail about its implementation."The market is focused more on growth and earnings now than what is coming out of the administration," said Ryan Caldwell, chief investment officer at Chiron Investment Management. "It is good to see they are looking at taxes, and it's good to know they are aggressive, but the implementation looks more like an end-of-the-year event." The S&P 500 technology index rose 0.5 percent, led by PayPal, which hit an all-time high after raising its full-year earnings forecast.

Technology stocks will remain in focus ahead of results from sector heavyweights Microsoft and Alphabet, which are scheduled to report results after the bell on Thursday.At 11:05 a.m. ET (1505 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 15.18 points, or 0.07 percent, at 20,959.91, the S&P 500 was down 1.32 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,386.13 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 15.61 points, or 0.26 percent, at 6,040.83.Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher. Energy tumbled 1.5 percent on the back of a more than 2 percent decline in oil prices. Financials, which had risen for the past three days, were down 0.7 percent.

"I think in financials, it's some profit-taking off a very good run week-to-date after the French elections," Caldwell said. Comcast was the top stock on the S&P, with a 3 percent increase after the company's profit beat analysts' estimates on strong subscriber growth.

American Airlines dropped 7 percent after the company said it had deferred the delivery of several Boeing and Airbus jets, in the latest sign of oversupply in the market for long-distance airliners. The news dragged down shares of other U.S. carriers, including Delta and United Continental.Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,507 to 1,240. On the Nasdaq, 1,372 issues fell and 1,262 advanced.The S&P 500 index showed 62 52-week highs and one low, while the Nasdaq recorded 137 highs and 23 lows. (Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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